Association between intestinal flora and preterm birth/low birth weight driven by detailed dietary survey

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21694
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 58:Society medicine, nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Shinichi Kuriyama 東北大学, 災害科学国際研究所, 教授 (90361071)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 妊婦 / 栄養 / 腸内細菌 / 早産 / 低出生体重

Outline of Final Research Achievements

While located in the Corona Disaster, 123 pregnant women in Miyagi Prefecture participated in the "Validation of Food Intake Frequency Questionnaire for Pregnant Women" survey using web-based methods. This number of recruits could not have been achieved without the cooperation of as many as 11 medical facilities. In the intestinal bacteriological examination, six phyla were examined, including intestinal flora, phylum Bacteroidetes, and phylum Firmicutes. No significant associations were found between nutrient intake obtained from dietary records, results obtained from the gut microbiota examination, and preterm delivery or birth weight.

Free Research Field

分子疫学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究によって食事と腸内細菌叢の両者が、それぞれ単独で、かつ相乗効果としてどれほど早産・低出生体重に影響を与えるかが明らかとなることが期待されたが、有意な結果は得られなかった。しかしながら、栄養が早産、低出生体重に与える影響に関しては、十分なエビデンスが得られているため、今後も妊婦に対する栄養指導は重要である。